The Model Is the Argument
Why every scheme we build starts as card, and why the render comes last.
A render is a picture of a conclusion. It shows a building in the best light of the best day from the best angle, and it is very difficult to disagree with. A card model is a picture of a decision — massing, section, the relationship between one volume and the next — and it invites disagreement, which is what a design review is for.
We build a physical model of every scheme at 1:200 before anything is visualised. It gets cut up in meetings. Floors come off, volumes get shifted, and the argument happens in front of an object everybody can see at once.
The renders come at the end, for planning and for marketing. By then the building has already been settled in card, which is a much cheaper material to be wrong in.